Once Upon a Time in the Karoo
This game was made for the DINOJAM5 game jam on itch.io. I worked in a team of 5 to complete this visual novel in ~2 weeks, based on the famous fossil the Triassic Cuddle. As the team’s narrative designer, my role was:
- Game concept and scoping
- Working closely with the producer, programmer, and character artist to bring a coherent look and feel to the game world
- Character development
- Designing branching narrative structure
- Writing dialogue and narration
- Testing and making updates
Notes on design:
It is the Triassic Period and the world is in constant upheaval. The story of a Thrinaxodon’s search for their friend the Broomistega is a non-linear experience. The player can choose to play the three chapters of story in any order they choose. Once they complete all three chapters, the story’s conclusion is unlocked. Below is the Prologue and First Chapter of the game script. It was written to enable implementation: dialogue is in a screenplay format, with player choices are indicated in red, and character expressions are indicated next to the character name. To read the full script, click here.
